


work seems more meaningful, and

by entanglement



Category: Mr. Robot (TV)
Genre: Gen, Gen Fic, the last bit of angela's 28 minutes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-01
Updated: 2016-10-01
Packaged: 2018-08-18 19:43:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8173714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/entanglement/pseuds/entanglement
Summary: 9 minutes





	

The woman with the blue fingernail polish falls into what seems to be deep contemplation around the 19 minute mark of her and Angela's conversation. She turns the silver case over in her hand a few times, staring off into space towards the dead fish in the aquarium. She stands, drops the cigarette into the damp gravel at the bottom of the aquarium and turns to Angela.

"Are you hungry?" she asks. 

Angela doesn't answer.

"Come now. You have one more task to accomplish today, so you'll need the energy," she says.

Angela follows her out of the bizarre interrogation room, down the hall and into the kitchen, stark in that same black and white decor and immaculately clean. She remembers the pictures in the hallway, the faces covered with tape, and wonders how long it's been since those people have been here. It has to be awhile, because when the woman opens the fridge and pulls something from it, she catches a glimpse of a rotting mass of greens and a jug of milk with all the white curdled bits separated and floating at the top. The item from the fridge is set in front of Angela and it's a gas station affair: tuna on soggy white bread, cut diagonally and placed into one of those plastic triangle shaped packages. Angela peels back the plastic at the top, smells the sandwich and cautiously takes a bite. It's alright, so she takes another. It isn't until the third that she thinks of poison.

"So it's like I'm on retainer," Angela says.

"Precisely," the woman says. "Do you mind if I smoke another?"

Angela shakes her head. Silence settles between them aside from the two clicks it takes to open and close the cigarette case and then the scrape of a match being struck. The watch beeps a few more times before either of them speak and Angela realizes she's lost count of how many minutes have a elapsed. 

"What if I change my mind?" Angela asks. She pushes away the second half of the sandwich.

The woman smiles. There's something in her demeanor that reminds Angela of her mother; too intelligent to read and always so frustratingly ahead of everyone else's thoughts. It feels odd to respect her considering the situation, but she respected her mother for exactly the same reasons and besides, it's comforting to be reminded of her in any circumstance. The woman crushes the top of her half smoked cigarette into the beautiful marble counter top and glides out of the kitchen, down the hall and into the foyer. Angela rushes to catch up. The watch beeps twice as they walk.

Just as they continue from the front door and out into the front path, an SUV and a limousine pull up to the curb and the woman leads Angela down the driveway to them before turning back to her again.

"I'm starting to think that if there really are separate universes running parallel to ours and we were given a window to any of them, we'd find that there's nothing much to see there. In one, my employee brought you an egg sandwich instead of tuna. You opted to wear your hair down instead of up or the grass is blue and the sky is green. Do you understand what I'm saying, Angela?" 

"The major things often stay the same."

"Your work to force the reality you actually want into existence is about to get far less lonely. I'm assuming that might be some sort of comfort for you if you're still feeling a bit cheated."

Angela holds the woman's gaze for a long, uncomfortable moment. "I'm not," she says.

The watch beeps three times in quick succession, obviously signalling the end of their 28 minutes together, because the woman immediately turns to walk back towards the town car parked behind the SUV. Angela watches her open the door and slide into the seat before following suit and climbing into the SUV. The engine turns over and they start off down the street, passing people idly walking dogs and going for a jog in the crisp, early morning air and she feels numbness sink in despite the full realization of the pact she's made.


End file.
